NFL's Newest QB Doubts 'Tackles' Boost in Passing Success
Hall of Fame quarterback and Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman had some thoughts on the current state of the NFL regarding how training camps are run. These days, Troy Aikman finds himself as a commentator on Monday Night Football, as well as an advisor for the Miami Dolphins. Aikman likes the steps the NFL has taken to reduce injuries, but he thinks one rule in particular is hurting players more than helping them.
Aikman was on the Rodeo Time Podcast recently and stated that players aren't as physically prepared when it comes time to play as they were in his day. “Wichita Falls is the hottest place on earth,” Aikman said of the Cowboys’ training camp location at the end of his career. “Back then, you did two-a-days in that kind of heat, day after day after day, two practices a day in full pads.
Now, the restrictions, probably for the better, players aren’t as taxed as they were. ” “I think they only wear pads one day a week or one time a day, and they have a walk-through, and then after, I don’t know how it all reads, but it’s pretty player-friendly and favorable,” Aikman said. “And a lot of it, whenever they negotiate the CBA, the owners tend to always win on the financial side of things.
And then the players say, ‘Well, all right, then we’re not gonna practice as long, or we’re not gonna practice as often. ’ So, then they tend to get concessions when it comes to how much time they’re actually at facilities. " "I think the only ones who don’t have a voice in those negotiations are the coaches.
They kind of have to wait till the dust settles and say, ‘All right, just how often do we get them? ’ But some of it is that we see too is a lot of the reasons I think that we see so many injuries, especially early in the year. A lot of soft tissue injuries, a lot of muscle pulls, and things of that nature is the players, they’re just not able to train the way that we once did, they’re not able to callous their bodies as easily.